This week let’s write a poem where you employ a simile which involves a container. The first one that sprang to my mind was “dumb as a box of rocks”. Obviously, stretch your imagination and come up with something so startling new yet obvious that it’ll just become part of the language then share your literary improvements in the comments below.
About Bartholomew Barker
Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.
Living Poetry 
Box in a Box
Hey, Pandora,
don’t weigh down
your beauty with
curiosity and remorse.
I’ll lock your box
in a PO box
with one key
that is mine.
Believe me,
bad is best
forgotten,
hope is best
to shine outside.
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Posted by nolchafox | July 31, 2023, 8:18 AMAnd I thought the delays in the mail were to due to intentional mismanagement when it’s all because of Pandora’s PO Box.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | July 31, 2023, 7:36 PMExactly!
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Posted by nolchafox | July 31, 2023, 7:59 PMMoving
Odd boxes in piles, forced space
falling over, trembling and shaking
remnants of a household past
jigsaw pieces of a new one
a fresh start in a far away land
overcoming the possibility
the freak chance of being lost
breaking chains of memories
sinking in an alien sea,
hiccups and hesitation
of a home boxed inside
another bigger one
shipped from one life
to the claustrophobia of another…
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Posted by utopicdystopian | July 31, 2023, 12:02 PMVery nice. I especially liked the “breaking chains of memories / sinking in an alien sea, / hiccups and hesitation” Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | July 31, 2023, 7:39 PMThank you!
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Posted by utopicdystopian | July 31, 2023, 8:45 PMTRAFFICKING
They are fishmen of a busy port
Generations of wealth
decorates their family
ties with the mafia through marriages
Monopoly of the fishing boats
the wholesale market
and the local businesses
They are in every corner
of this fishing town
Containers of seafoods
mixing with
containers of children,
firearms and drugs
Their family legacy
in this town
is built on
the historical corruption
and lawlessness
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Posted by Cassa Bassa | July 31, 2023, 5:22 PMGreat work! Especially the third stanza!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | July 31, 2023, 7:43 PMHi Everyone. Good poems this week. I don’t know why WordPress won’t let me “like” a post. I’ve had this problem on other WP sites but this one just doesn’t like me. Got any ideas Bart?
“Obviously, stretch your imagination and come up with something so startling new yet obvious that it’ll just become part of the language ”
No containers in it but I want to share a poem (not mine) that fulfills the charge in that sentence above. I will now forever think of birds as “Sky Swimmers” (by Mike Orlock)
https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=4529
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Posted by JeanMarie | August 5, 2023, 2:47 PMBirds as pearls on a bracelet. That’s a great image. Thanks for sharing!
As to your WordPress problems, I’m sorry, I have no insight there. Maybe you aren’t fully logged in? Sometimes WordPress seems to forget I’m me. I’ll start with the basic web troubleshooting of suggesting you delete all your cookies associated with wordpress.com and then log back in. If that doesn’t help, I was surprised to discover recently that their support team was actually helpful. Give them a try. Good luck!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 5, 2023, 9:18 PMThanks 😊
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Posted by JeanMarie | August 5, 2023, 10:02 PMI treasure your heart
kept in a beautiful box
hand carved like your body
(Boo!)
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Posted by JeanMarie | August 5, 2023, 2:51 PMLove it! Not sure if it’s just an image or if you really have some human hearts in hard carved boxes. It’s none of my business.
Great work!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | August 5, 2023, 9:20 PMha ha ha! move along,,, nothing to see here
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Posted by JeanMarie | August 5, 2023, 10:38 PM